The companies are focusing on different ways to transform the procurement process with digital technologies in order to increase the user experience, remove manual effort and enhance the decision making process. However, the main challenge is that most of the companies are not sure on how they can generate the impact or from which point they should start off.
In this blog, we have come up with 6 steps through which you will be able to build a digitized roadmap for procurement.
Identify the strategic objectives
Being an organization, first of all you must know the answer to following questions such as
What are the strategic objectives & priorities for your company?
What is the operational & financial output you’re intending to generate?
How can you make your team more proactive, responsive, responsible and insightful? What are the resources & tools you would require for the same?
Answers to such critical questions will be able to define your strategic goals and how the digitalization will assist you to achieve them.
Plan the future
Always remember to invest wisely. If your investment is addressing only the immediate needs, it will result in duplication, lower benefits and high costs. The clients expect to be in touch with you through diverse channels such as websites, social media, mobile applications etc along with consistent, seamless experience.
In developing the technological roadmap, set the goal in such a manner so that you can remain competitive in the market for at least next 5 years. Accommodate the technology that is scalable, flexible and expandable to meet your long term objectives.
Identify the functional priorities & needs
While creating the digitized roadmap, you would require to:
- Review the current business processes & highlight inefficiencies
- Identify the technology gaps and functional inabilities that needs improvement
- Prepare a checklist for the to do list
Such actions lead you to assess your plan more effectively.
Incorporate only the realistic cost
Massive technology initiatives may result in being capital intensive. Thus, it is highly important to ensure that you conduct proper research especially in terms of pricing and come up with a realistic cost estimate for such projects. Also, keep an additional budget ready in case of any emergency. Besides, keep a tab on costs such as subscription fees, new infrastructure costs, annual maintenance etc.
Set Realistic Timelines
The roadmap must include a realistic schedule and timeline for the projects based upon the priorities, available resources and duration of the project. You must also take into consideration the constraints that are likely to come up.
It is also advisable to consider the effective external resources such as business consultants in order to reduce in-house staff workload.
Appoint a committee
The committee members can comprise of the leaders and HODs from the respective departments. Such members can facilitate to smoothen the communication and monitor the development of the entire roadmap.
Conclusion
A digitized roadmap assists you to move forward in the desired direction with clear purpose and motivation while reducing the costly errors. It further assists you to align the organization’s IT projects with the strategic goals. You can induce in long term planning, define the priorities before you go for investment.
